Offer subject to change without notice. Naked and … See Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you.Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed.Afloat the Erie Canal: A Self-Led Houseboat AdventureA Database of 5,000 Historical Cookbooks Is Now Online, and You Can Help Improve ItGet Lost in a Corn Maze That Looks Like a Microscopic 'Water Bear'Found: A Miniature Incan Llama at the Bottom of Lake TiticacaA Former CIA Chief of Disguise Shows Off a Five-Second MaskThe Conspiracy Theories and Misinterpreted Murals of Denver Airport The 1916 fatal attacks are the subject of three studies: Richard G. Fernicola's "Bathers Need Have No Fear of Sharks: Lousy Fish Expert Declares One That Killed Swimmer May Have Sought To Attack Dog," "Motor Boats Hunt Man-Eating Sharks Off Jersey Coast," "Shark Guards Out At Beach Resorts; Wire Nets Set Against Supposed Man-Eater That Killed Spring Lake Bather," "Motor Boats Hunt Man-Eating Sharks Off Jersey Coast," Brian Handwerk, "Great Whites May Be Taking the Rap for Bull Shark Attacks," August 2, 2002, George H. Burgess, interview with Michael Capuzzo, n.d., available at See the graphic map, "1916–2006 United States (incl. With previous deadly attacks in Beach Haven and Spring Lake, New Jersey, the shark made its way north and down a freshwater creek in Matawan, New Jersey on July 12, where it … Matawan hadn’t prepared itself for attacks like other shoreline towns in New Jersey, as they were so far inland along a freshwater creek. In July 1916, ichthyologist and editor for the National Geographic Society By the end of July 1916, John Nichols and Robert Murphy were taking the great white more seriously. Thirty miles farther north, residents of Matawan, a small town 11 miles inland from the open ocean, naturally felt that they were safe from attacks. Swimmers here were confined to the Matawan Creek, a narrow tidal creek that wound its way to the bay. I was just watching Shark week and they had a story about the "Matawan creek man-eater". Tink The bull shark, however, is infamous for its freshwater meanderings, as well as for its pugnacious and aggressive nature." His leering, chinless face, his great mouth with its rows of knife-like teeth, which he knows too well to use on the fisherman's gear; the relentless fury with which, when his last hour has come, he thrashes on deck and snaps at his enemies; his toughness, his brutal, nerveless vitality and insensibility to physical injury, fail to elicit the admiration one feels for the dashing, brilliant, destructive, gastronomic After the Matawan attacks, Frederic Lucas admitted on the front page of Whereas sharks had previously been seen as harmless, after the Jersey Shore attacks of 1916 the pendulum of public opinion swung to the other extreme, and sharks quickly came to be viewed not only as eating machines, but also as fearless, ruthless killers. Fisher and others dived into the creek to find Stilwell, believing him to have suffered a seizure.

Experts at that time believed sharks simply did not exist in these waters, and that sharks were not to be feared. The incident was heavy inspiration for Peter Benchley, who would write his 1974 novel Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders.Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders.We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. Joseph Dunn was taken to As the national media descended on Beach Haven, Spring Lake, and Matawan, the Jersey Shore attacks started a shark panic.Despite the death of Charles Vansant and the report [of] two sharks having been caught in that vicinity recently, I do not believe there is any reason why people should hesitate to go in swimming at the beaches for fear of man-eaters. Lucas and Nichols proposed that a northward-swimming Witnesses of the Beach Haven fatality estimated that the shark was 9 feet (3 m) long. Bull's are the only ones that can go from Salt to Fresh water. After locating the boy's body and attempting to return to shore, Fisher was also bitten by the shark in front of the townspeople, losing Stilwell in the process.The fifth and final victim, Joseph Dunn, 14, of New York City was attacked a half-mile from the Wyckoff dock nearly 30 minutes after the fatal attacks on Stilwell and Fisher. Bridge where the shark was spotted in Matawan Creek The Matawan incident was particularly shocking, as they took place 11 miles inland, in a freshwater creek, where sharks are rarely seen.

This was a place where shark attacks and the news of fearsome predators prowling the seas would have just been background chatter and in a world away from their own concerns. Being unable to move quickly and without food, he had come in to bite the dog and snapped at the man in passing.The media's response to the second attack was more sensational.

Home to an endangered salamander, a full moon celebration, and a large spring-fed outdoor swimming pool. 1916 Matawan Shark Attack Monument - Matawan Memorial Park on Main Street After the second incident, scientists and the public began presenting theories to explain which species of shark was responsible for the Jersey Shore attacks or whether multiple sharks were involved.